LOS ANGELES – It may be a new team and a new practice setting, but a lot still felt familiar for cornerback Trent McDuffie in his first training camp practice as a Ram.
Opposite him at cornerback was the Kansas City teammate he reunited with in Los Angeles in Jaylen Watson. There was Quentin Lake, who he has known since their high school days in Orange County, at safety. Rams pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake is another familiar face from his college days at the University of Washington.
"Definitely a homecoming type of feeling," McDuffie said after practice. "I know we're ready to work, so I appreciate being a part of a group like that."
Some things weren't as familiar compared to McDuffie's time as a Chief, but for good reason.
"I'm just glad to be back out here playing football," McDuffie said. "It's not too hot. I'd be in Missouri, it'd be hot, humid, 93 (degrees). It was a little hot today, but besides that, guys are out here working and that's what I love, coming out here, working. I know it was a little shorter practice today, but I'm excited to put the cleats on, hopefully pads in a few days and just getting back to football. That's what it's about."
McDuffie is still getting to know his new teammates and coaches, but as he becomes acclimated to his new team, he said he hasn't felt the need to be anyone other than himself.
"I feel like I didn't have to do too much," McDuffie said, when asked how he asserts himself on a new team. "We have a really good DB room, guys with experience, guys who want to be here and to learn and to learn from each other, which is the best part. So as a leader walking into here, I wasn't trying to change the culture. I wasn't trying to come in here and say, 'We need to go this way or that way,' or things I try to say over in Kansas City. Nah, it's a clean slate. Let's come in, let's build with each other. I think that's the best thing we can do. I don't think there should be one guy up there that has to talk all the time. Everybody should have a say. Everybody should be able to come in here and have a little something that has to do with the DB room so I'm excited. I love the guys and I know we have a lot of fun so that just makes it even better."
The Rams got right to 11-on-11 work on the first day of training camp, which McDuffie enjoyed. He's eager for one-on-one drills, but until those are incorporated into the practice structure, he's happy with the way it is currently.
"Yeah, I personally love it," McDuffie said. "I know we'll get out here and do some one-on-ones, which as a DB I love. We get to work our craft. But you want to just talk about football, that's what football is, 11-on-11, best-on-best. You come out here, that's what we're going to do. And it also just helps you just mesh with everybody else. You can see how the d-line is playing, you can see how the linebackers play, you got to just feel how everybody plays in the game, especially for my first time being on the team so I can appreciate it and I just love the practice structure that (head coach) Sean McVay has."
